Grades 7--12

Teen Experience: AM EChaD (One People)

The name (and acronym) AM EChaD represents most of the important elements identified by our teens and their parents who attended our planning session at the end of the last school year. Aisrey=Teens Mishpacha=Family Eretz=Israel Chagigah=CelebrationDibur=Conversation

Based on input from our teens and their parents, and the philosophies and experiences of Rabbi Aft, Rabbi Weiner, and Peggy Ephrath, our Director of Teen Engagement, the objectives of AM EChaD are:

Provide a safe sanctuary from the stress and interpersonal hassles of the day-to-day life of a teenager

Strengthen Jewish identity and help prepare our teens to joyfully live Jewishly once they graduate for High School and move on to the next stage of their lives

We will provide a Teen Experience and a Teen Space in which our students will form strong, positive relationships and participate in authentic personal learning experiences. Our Jewish learning will not be through classroom instruction; rather it will be through living a life of Jewish values.

Most meetings are on Sunday evenings from 5:00-7:00pm and begin with social time and plenty of food. Please check the calendar on this website for details on upcoming meeting times for our teens. Please encourage your teen to join us and to bring a friend. The friend can register for AM EChaD even if (s)he is not a member of Adat Reyim, as long as the friend is sponsored by a registered Adat Reyim member.

Throughout the year we will also have special programs with BBYO, Rosh Chodesh for Girls and their Moms and/or Grandmas, special family programs, and occasional Family Shabbat lunches with Rabbi and Rebetzen Aft. One annual fee of $540 covers the expenses for all of these programs (additional fees apply for Bar/Bat Mitzvah and Confirmation students).

7th Grade Bar/Bat Mitzvah Experience

Our 7th Grade students are an integral part of our Teen Program. Still, they have a core curriculum focused on davening and understanding core Jewish ethical standards for living life. 7th Grade Students are registered using the Religious School K-7th Grade Registration Forms. For more information about the Bar/Bat Mitzvah requirements and studies, click here

Confirmation

When and how did confirmation originate?At Congregation Adat Reyim, the Confirmation ceremony is held at the age of sixteen since the feeling is that a thirteen-year-old bar/bat mitzvah could not really be considered an adult and fully understand the significance of the Jewish ceremony at such a tender age. The Confirmation ceremony is less than two hundred years old! It was instituted in the early nineteenth century in Germany by the Reform movement and soon struck roots in the general Jewish community at large.

Why is confirmation generally tied to the festival of Shavuot?
In 1831, Rabbi Samuel Egers of Brunswick, Germany held his confirmation ceremony on the festival of Shavuot, the festival of the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. Shavuot provides the natural connection to the idea of transmitting Torah.

Adat Reyim's Confirmation Class studies and learns with Rabbi Aft and participates in AM EChad social action projects in the community and synagogue.

Post Confirmation

Adat Reyim recognizes that Junior and Senior years are academically demanding years, yet students want and need to stay connected to their Jewish community and friends at Adat Reyim. AM EChad, our 7th-12th grade teen experience program, provides multiple ways for our Post-Confirmation students to stay involved with their Adat Reyim friends and Jewish learning. The AM EChad experience provides our 11th and 12th grade students many opportunities to serve in leadership roles. In addition, they will meet with Rabbi Aft once a month for coffee or frozen yogurt and Jewish conversation and have an occasional Family Shabbat lunch with Rabbi and Rebetzen Aft.